Vietnam company launches gay- inclusive ad campaign

Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam’s largest jewelry retailers have launched a pro-LGBT ad campaign. A same-sex couple feature in a video for the “True Love” campaign for Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), in collaboration with advertising agency, Mirum Vietnam.

In a video for the campaign, opens with the text “Based on true stories,” and showcases couples wearing wedding and engagement rings. Around two-thirds of the way through, it shows a male couple setting up a tent on a camping trip. They then stop to look at a rainbow before holding hands in front of a campfire. The video also includes a range of body-shapes and sizes, and ends with the line “The true beauty of love.” Comments below the video in Vietnamese are overwhelmingly positive, with many praising the inclusion of a same-sex couple.

Though criticized for having an authoritarian government, Vietnam is widely considered one of the more progressive countries in Southeast Asia with regards to LGBT rights. There are no laws forbidding homosexuality, and the government passed a landmark law in 2015 which legally recognizes trans people. However, there remain numerous socio-cultural obstacles facing the country’s LGBT community. Many people in Vietnam still consider LGBT rights as a social stigma or as “Western values.” This remains particularly true in Vietnam’s conservative rural areas. There are also few anti-discrimination laws in Vietnam to protect LGBT people in the workplace. (Gay Star News – at Gaystarnews.com/article/vietnams-largest-jewelry-company-launch-lgbti-inclusive-ad-campaign)